The count of Destiny

44-year-old William who had been raised in an orphanage and shown no love as a child had been made redundant from his job today.

On hearing the news of his redundancy his wife kicked him out of the house and told him not to come back until he had another job.

He thought he would be better off dead.

He stood on the edge of the bridge and looked down at the torrent of water rushing between the pylons.

He was just about to jump when somebody put their hand on his shoulder and said I don't think you want to do that.

William turned and found an old woman holding his shoulder.

William said to her what do I have to live for.

My parents are dead my wife left me I have no job and I have just been made homeless.

He stepped down from the bridge not knowing intrigued by this old woman.

They both sat on the nearby bench talking.

She pulled out a stack of cards and told him if he was not happy with his life she would reshuffle the deck for him.

He thought she was slightly crazy.

What did she mean by she could reshuffle the deck?

She told him her name was Destiny.

She told him that he was supposed to be dead at this moment in time but she had saved his soul to give him the choice to see what his life would have been if he had not been placed in that body.

She told him all he had to do was to tap the top of the card three times and she would shuffle them.

He tapped the cards three times and she pulled five out.

The world went dark for a moment.

Then the light came shining back into his eyes and he found himself lying and a hospital bead with strange pains between his legs holding a new-born baby close to his chest.

He heard the woman's voice in his head say let's see if you want to throw away this life as quickly as your last.

He felt an uncontrollable love and desire for the baby in his arms.

He had no idea who he was or where he was.

All he did know was that he wanted to protect this child.

It turned out he was now a young married Indian woman and this was her first child.

He was determined to make a better go of this life than he had of his old one.

In this life, he had something worth living for.